Vehicle article carriers are used in a wide variety of applications with various types of motor vehicles. Typically the vehicle article carrier is disposed on the roof portion of a vehicle, or possibly on the sidewalls of a bed of a pickup truck such that it is disposed over the bed. In many instances the typical vehicle article carrier will include a pair of crossbars that are each supported at their opposite ends from corresponding support rails. Each support rail is typically fixedly secured to an outer body surface of the vehicle. In many instances one or both of the crossbars may be adjustable; that is, one or both of the crossbars may be moveable along the support rails and locked at one of a plurality of positions along the lengths of the support rails to enhance the utility of the crossbars in supporting variously sized and shaped articles being carried on the crossbars.
When repositioning either of the crossbars, typically the user must release some form of locking or latching arrangement at each end of the crossbar. This requires the user to first unlock an end support at one end of the cross bar, then walk to the other side of the vehicle and perform the same operation at the other end support. The crossbar may then be moved along the support rails to the desired position. The user then locks one end of the cross bar to its associated support rail, and then walks around to the other side of the vehicle to lock the other end support. Accordingly, the simple act of repositioning a crossbar can be somewhat cumbersome for the user. If the user uses his/her vehicle article carrier system frequently to transport articles of widely varying sizes and shapes, then the above-described unlocking and locking action must be performed each time the crossbars are repositioned.
Previous attempts at providing a vehicle article carrier having a single side release feature associated with each cross bar of the carrier have often required the use of complex locking mechanisms. Such mechanisms have often been relatively costly to implement and/or have required complex assembly operations.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a vehicle article carrier system that enables both ends of a cross bar of the system to be locked or unlocked from a single side of the cross bar. It would be even further desirable to enable the locking and unlocking action to be performed at either end of the cross bar. Still further, it would be desirable to provide a cross bar having a single side release feature that is of relatively inexpensive yet robust construction.